Recipe 9.1 Creating Message Boxes

9.1.1 Problem

You need to send a message to the user and/or get a little feedback from the user .

9.1.2 Solution

Use the SWT MessageBox class to create a message box, and check the return value from its open method to determine which button the user clicked.

9.1.3 Discussion

Here are the MessageBox class's methods :

String getMessage( )

Returns the dialog's message

int open( )

Makes the dialog visible

void setMessage(String string)

Sets the dialog's message

You create a message box by passing the current shell to the MessageBox constructor, as well as the style you want to use: MessageBox(Shell parent, int style) . Here are some common styles to use:

SWT.ICON_ERROR

SWT.ICON_INFORMATION

SWT.ICON_QUESTION

SWT.ICON_WARNING

SWT.ICON_WORKING

SWT.OK

SWT.OK SWT.CANCEL

SWT.YES SWT.NO

SWT.YES SWT.NO SWT.CANCEL

SWT.RETRY SWT.CANCEL

SWT.ABORT SWT.RETRY SWT.IGNORE .

You use the message box's open method to display it; when the message box is closed, compare this method's int return value to one of the preceding styles such as SWT.YES , SWT.NO , or SWT.CANCEL to determine which button was clicked.